Justin Bieber paternity lawsuit withdrawn

kabc

By ABC7

LOS ANGELES

Lawyer Jeffrey Leving said Wednesday that the suit filed in San Diego by 20-year-old Mariah Yeater was recently removed without prejudice. It was withdrawn, he said, because of the media storm surrounding its filing and because his client was getting death threats.

Leving said both sides are trying to address the matter outside of court, and the lawsuit could be refiled at a later date.

Yeater claims when she was 19, she and Bieber, then 16, had a brief sexual encounter after one of the singer's concerts last fall at Staples Center.

Bieber said he has never met Yeater and has denied allegations that he fathered Yeater's son, who was born in July.

In a statement to Eyewitness News on Wednesday, Bieber's spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said, "As we've said from the beginning, it's sad that someone would fabricate such a malicious, defamatory, and demonstrably false claim. We'll continue to consider all of our options to protect Justin."

Representatives say Bieber still plans on submitting to a paternity test.

"Over the years, there have been many of these paternity suits," entertainment journalist Jeanne Wolf said.

Chris Rock, Marc Anthony, Keanu Reeves and Michael Jackson were all wrongly accused of fathering a child with a fan.

"In the case of Michael Jackson, people came out of the woodwork to say they were not only the mother of these children but they were the father of his children," Wolf said.